Stand alone GPS: not dead yet.

I thought I could live with just my phone as a GPS. And really, it was pretty damn good for a long time. But the latest update, to Android 4.1.2 Jellybean, appears to have porked the GPS function on a lot of Android phones, including my Galaxy S3.

(Yeah, it's true. The best selling Android phone ever has trouble keeping a GPS lock, on a clear day in a moving car in the Midwest. Google it. My only consolation is that it appears to be Android related, not Samsung related.)

So I did some research on features and prices, and I bought a Garmin that has lifetime traffic and maps, and that accepts voice instruction. The price for that level of functionality has dropped a lot, so I don't feel all that put out by it. One of the things that sold me is that the maps are stored in memory on the device, rather than continually accessed through the cellular signal, and that it can be upgraded to include any continent in the world, so I can give it to my daughter to use in South America.

Does Garmin still employ the annoying "recalculating!" every time you miss a turn?

I'll stick with my iPad utilizing several different GPS apps depending on what I feel I want to do. I vacillate between the Apple Maps app and a Tom Tom app which I like better than my Garmin.

I modified a spare iPad case that flips down over the dash and holds the iPad so I have a nice 10" screen. I keep my iPhone handy for shooting scenes while driving with a remote switch. Stopped here, I was able to shoot them both with my digital camera.

Does Garmin still employ the annoying "recalculating!" every time you miss a turn?

I'll stick with my iPad utilizing several different GPS apps depending on what I feel I want to do. I vacillate between the Apple Maps app and a Tom Tom app which I like better than my Garmin.

I modified a spare iPad case that flips down over the dash and holds the iPad so I have a nice 10" screen. I keep my iPhone handy for shooting scenes while driving with a remote switch. Stopped here, I was able to shoot them both with my digital camera.

I'm dying to know what your Garmin told you was in front of you? LOL! Praire Mountain Oysters on the.........um.......hoof?

No Garmin in that photo. Just the iPhone and the iPad. The location was Muncho Lake Provincial Park on the Alaska Highway in British Columbia. Bison roam free and you have to stop and wait for them to cross. We also had to stop for moose and bear on our Alaska trip.

Haha, I've had many Garmins over the years; this is my fourth. The first was an eMaps.

I've gotten used to the "Recalculating... recalculating...." in that vaguely worried voice. Now it's kind of comforting. I answer, "Yeah, yeah, I know, we'll be okay in a few more miles, don't you fret now." My favorite is I-99 between Northeast PA and Pittsburgh. On my last Garmin (one I still use), I-99 was opened after my last free update, and when we drive it, the Garmin thinks we are driving through the forest! "Recalculating.. recalculating... make a uturn... turn left on Route 344... recalculating..." until we hit either PA-220 or I-80, depending on which direction we're going.

I got the new Garmin to give to my daughter. When she goes to South America I'm going to load up the South America maps for her, and she'll have it to help navigate her way through the cities.

Fried Clam Fanatic, I have that Tom-Tom app on my iPad, as well. But my iPad doesn't have cellular nor GPS. I bought a small GPS device calledan ELF that goes into the base of the unit, but I haven't figured out a way to mount the iPad in my car. I like the Tom-Tom OK enough, but my long history using Garmin makes me more comfortable with the interface and the appearance.

I have this thing in my car...I call it a Mobile Application Positioner. It works great, hardly ever needs updates or recharging, has yet to fail me, and never EVER tells me what Dummy I was to make that last left turn.

One thing you have to know about GPS on a tablet or a smartphone is they can work either off cellular connections or a built in satellite GPS device. Most are based on cellular except for some like Tom Tom which have their own installed maps and use the GPS when there is no cellular available. Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze and many others require cellular. When traveling in an RV in remote locations or even Canada if you don't pay the exorbitant price for cellular, you need a GPS device app that will work without cellular. Tom Tom and CoPilot will do that. Tom Tom is optimized for the iPad retina screen and different in functionality from the iPhone in that it uses the large screen optimally with more information. On Android it is limited to low resolution for smartphones and not tablets.

Here is another view of my setups only this time I had my Garmin, iPhone and iPad all using GPS. I was just experimenting.

This the the iPad GPS in a leather case covering the radio.

All it is, is a spare leather case that I bent the cover flap to fit the dash and velcroed it to stay in place. Here I am able to lift it to get to the radio.

You really have to know where you're going when using a GPS. The recalculating woman is gone, but the new woman is a liar.

I'm assuming you are talking about brand NEW GPS systems? My 5 year old Garmin (one of the best investments I have ever made) has NEVER led me to the wrong place never! The ONLY problem with mine is that the maps need to be up-graded and being it's as old as it is is not a FREE up-grade! I have to go buy a new one that has FREE upgrades.

My cousins call me the best gps ever. On a recent trip I navigated Chicago better than any machine known to man. Its called a map. LOL!

LOL.that was what I was getting at in my post! I may be old, but I seem to still have all my geographic brain cells. I took my son's car with GPS one day in Rotterdam NL and it got me so foulded up I just gave up and got to where the streets started looking familiar

The "recalculating..." Is gone, it just picks up a new route from where you deviated. I think that was a function of processor speed.

I never had that problem with the upgrades on any of my Garmins, and certainly not on this one nor the one previous; out of the box I updated both. This newest one had room to back up the first set of maps, then download and install the new maps.

The voice is loud and clear. I have an iPad, I know what the volume and speaker are like. This is better.

It has adaptive lane directions, where it tells you which lanes to get in, and at about a mile before any important turn, it splits into a Google maps first person view of what you should see.

I only used it for a few days, but it took me on the most direct routes for the places we were going.

If I were in a situation where I were dependent on a GPS, there is no comparison: the dedicated device has far more features and useful ones, for a lower price. However, if I needed a GPS only occasionally, or rarely, and I already had a smartphone, it might not make sense to get a standalone.